Despite stating that he had no interest in contesting the Assembly polls, Swabhimani Paksha chief Raju Shetti has said if Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president Chandrakant Patil stepped into the fray, then he would contest against the BJP leader.
Issuing an open challenge to Mr. Patil at a farmers’ meet in Beed district on Tuesday, Mr. Shetti said he would fight against Mr. Patil in whichever segment in rural Maharashtra the latter was considering contesting.
“Mr Patil, who has never contested nor won an Assembly election, only talks big and takes swipes at opposition leaders who have been working in the field and winning elections for decades. In the event he is fielded by the BJP, it would have to be from a ‘safe seat’ to assure his victory. In that case, I, too, will contest against him from that seat,” Mr. Shetti told The Hindu on Wednesday.
Mr. Shetti hit out at the BJP State chief by stating that he owes his position solely to the BJP’s political fortunes following the rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr. Patil, a long-time member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, is considered to be the ‘number 2’ man in the State Cabinet.
Earlier this month, Mr. Patil, after publicly announcing in Kolhapur that he would not contest the Assembly polls, had soon afterwards backtracked and said a decision about his candidature would be decided by his party.
According to sources, Mr. Patil, Guardian Minister of Kolhapur and State Revenue Minister, is thinking of contesting from Radhanagari, Chandgad or Kolhapur city.
The district is Mr. Shetti’s home turf as well, with the Swabhimani Paksha chief having being returned as MP from Hatkanangale twice before losing his seat to the Shiv Sena’s Dhairyasheel Mane in a major upset in the recently concluded general election.
Meanwhile, Mr. Shetti urged all smaller parties to unite in a grand coalition led by the Congress and the NCP to defeat the BJP-Sena combine and to prevent votes being split.
“In this spirit, I even urge Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi to enter this grand alliance,” he said.
